Police in Los Angeles and Philadelphia stormed Occupy Wall Street encampments under darkness Wednesday to arrest or drive out some of the longest-lasting protesters since crackdowns ended similar occupations across the country

Another five years of building cars and CO2-belching power plants will put us over the tipping point and from there on it is all downhill. Now there is a warning for the ages - it could be the last one we receive while there is still time to react

In a recent post, I discovered something rather alarming–the fact that in the last decade (2000 to 2010) both world energy consumption and the CO2 emissions from this energy consumption were rising as fast as GDP for the world as a whole

At a time when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is refusing to rollback the decision to open the retail sector to foreign direct investment saying it will benefit our country, the American President Obama thinks otherwise. In a tweet on Saturday (Nov 26), President Obama wrote: “support small businesses in your community by shopping at your favourite local store.” While President Obama is talking of what is good for America, Manmohan Singh too is adamant on protecting American interests

A ‘moral articulation' by successive American administrations as to the primary reason for their unilateral support of 0.001% of the world's population, namely Israel , is not standing up to international law or American scrutiny

UN General Assembly resolution 181, adopted on November 29, 1947, purported to divide Palestine between the indigenous inhabitants and European colonists who arrived seeking to occupy and exploit Palestine and create an exclusive Jewish homeland

The ‘Finish capitalism' slogan has only one meaning: victory for socialism. The ‘Occupy Wall Street' movement has now inaugurated an anti-capitalist movement which will inevitably lead to its historical alternative

For all of you oligarch’s out there with your billions of dollars, fine automobiles and trophy wives, don’t think for a minute that this thing is over. Slap each other on the back and get back to business as usual. Just remember what went on this autumn. Spring is right around the corner. Enjoy your winter, but don’t forget about us. We make up 99% of the nation you live in, and we’re really pissed off

Occupy movement success is not inevitable. The movement must better define what success means and how it can be achieved if it is to attract and keep the support of many millions of Americans. It needs specificity for its solutions that ordinary Americans can relate to

Saturday’s US-led NATO attack on the two Pakistani checkposts, killing 25 soldiers, has rallied the nation around the army and further weakened the Zardari regime which tried to control the powerful army through American backing as the confidential memo envisaged

Those who have signed this statement believe that starting a war on the part of the World Capitalist System, led by the U.S and its internal allies, only hurt the genuine social movement of the Iranian people. War and the critical situation resulted from it not only do not undermine the bases of the dictatorships and are the best excuses for suppressing the social movements and their activists

The human toll from yet another imperialist-sponsored war in Africa grows daily, reports Abayomi Azikiwe. The Somali conflict is part of ongoing campaigns by the Pentagon and NATO to secure large sections of Africa that have strategic value to the US and Europe

The most appalling Awful Truth that the ABC refuses to report is horrendous global infant mortality and in particular infant mortality in countries subject to invasion and occupation by the US Alliance

The ‘Tamil Sovereignty Cognition’ declaration that was released today (Nov 27, 2011), on the momentous occasion of Heroes Day, appears as a significant step in building a political consensus among the Tamils, especially the Eelam Tamil diaspora, in order to pave a path for future politico-legal action that would ensure justice for the Eelam Tamils

The North East political leaders and state governments need to address the issues of racial discrimination and sexual violence immediately. With ever-increasing crimes against North Easterners, the challenge is huge

The scandal of global hunger stands as a rebuke to humanity. The fact that record numbers of people are classified as hungry, at a time when there is unprecedented wealth in the world, challenges the very concept of human progress. Moreover, there is a growing consensus that the crisis in the global food system results from deliberate political choices that favour corporate interests while they condemn hundreds of millions to despair. That system is bankrupt, and must be changed. Here is War on Want's Food Sovereignty Report (PDF)

On Friday millions of workers and youth protested against military rule in Egypt and demanded the downfall of the US-backed Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) junta. In Cairo hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered on Tahrir Square

While Sydney and Melbourne police were violently arresting and dispersing Occupy Sydney and Occupy Melbourne off-shoots of the 99% versus 1% Occupy Wall Street Movement, the cowardly Labor Government was announcing an Occupy Australia movement whereby 2,500 child-killing US Marines will be indefinitely based in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, and that there will be increased use of Australia by the US Navy and the US Air Force

Despite the claims of the National Transitional Council of Libya (NTC) that Saif al Islam Gadhafi, the apprehended subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant that ordered his transport to The Hague, is in a secure hidden location near Zintan, Libya, a town approximately 85 miles southwest of Tripoli, this is not the case

Climate changes provide another argument against the capitalist system and provides more urgency to seek systemic changes. If the environmental issues are brought front and center within the people's struggles it might even result in more support for change

When the new Italian Prime Minister, Mr. Mario Monti, gave his acceptance speech to the Senate, a few days ago, he used 28 times the term "growth" and not even once terms such as "natural resources" or "energy". He is not alone in neglecting the physical basis of the world's economy: the chorus of economic pundits everywhere in the world is all revolving around this magic world, "growth". But why? What is that makes this single parameter so special and so beloved?

From organizing the Lalgarh movement alongside his comrades in various mass movements and developing a tremendous savvy with the media, Kishenji was a stalwart Indian revolutionary, who dedicated his entire life to “serving the people.” He was responsible with his comrades, to set up the rudiments of peoples’ court, rural schooling systems, irrigation ditches, mobile hospitals and dispensaries

With all the propaganda we’ve been fed about Greece’s new “austerity” government being staffed by non-ideological “technocrats,” it may come as a surprise that fascists are now considered “technocrats” to the mainstream media and Western banking interests. Greece's new Minister of Infrastructure Makis Voridis has a fascist past but he is termed a "technocrat"

Tantawi’s departure would indicate that it is – the prospects for a real hello to democracy in Egypt are improving. And if something approaching real democracy can take root and grow in Egypt, the days of Arab autocrats and despots almost everywhere (probably not Saudi Arabia) may well be numbered

With regional and international players already vying for the opportunity to exploit Syria’s internal woes, Turkey’s own internal problems could soon be exploited for the benefit of outside forces. Thus, the new Turkish foreign policy appears to be centered on ensuring a position of leadership for Ankara in any future scenario faced by Syria

The Guardian revealed this month that the defense ministry under Fox had drawn up detailed plans for British assistance in the event of a US military strike on Iran, including allowing the Americans to use Diego Garcia, a British territory in the Indian ocean, as a base from which to launch an attack

As I enter “the autumn of my madness”, I am overcome with sorrow. Every time I look at my grandson or hear his innocent laughter, tears fill my eyes. My heart is crushed at the thought of the future I am leaving him

The recent loss of sea ice in the Arctic is greater than any natural variation in the past 1½ millennia, a Canadian study shows. What we are experiencing at the moment seems to be very exceptional…. This means that we are entering into the world which has no equivalent in the past

Clashes continued yesterday in cities across Egypt, on the fifth day of mass protests demanding the overthrow of the US-backed Egyptian military junta. The protests started Saturday, when police used live ammunition and rubber bullets against a sit-in by a few hundred protesters in Tahrir Square, in Cairo

The national Occupy movement, with a concentrated expression at Occupy Wall Street in NYC, is at a crossroads that will require determination and creative strategies to build on and broaden while deepening the movement’s stand against the whole way that capitalism is destroying people and the planet

No amount of protesting is going to refill the once vast and now mostly depleted reserves of cheap oil and other resources that gave America its age of extravagance, nor is protest going to do anything to stop the decline of America as a world power or the rise of competing powers

Yields on government debt in Europe soared Wednesday after a failed auction of German bonds. The German government managed to sell less than two thirds of the bonds it had put up for auction Wednesday—the worst such sale since the creation of the euro in 1999—as investors weighed the consequences of a potential breakup of the Euro

The Israeli government decided in mid-November 2011 to continue delaying the transfer of $100 million in tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The pleas of Defense Minister Ehud Barak and senior IDF officers didn’t help, even though they explained that the money was needed to pay the wages of the policemen responsible for security in the West Bank

Hands Off the People of Iran unequivocally condemns the ratcheting up of sanctions on Iran in the aftermath of the much-heralded report of the International Atomic Energy Agency on that country’s nuclear capability on November 8

All that can be said is that the performance of the Arab League in neglecting the situation in Yemen and Bahrain and exaggerating the unrest in Syria which is mainly caused by the foreign intervention and the West's indifference toward the plight of the suppressed nations in Yemen and Bahrain is an all-out hypocrisy and a clear, undeniable exercise of double standards. Who can really devise a clear-cut solution for this unsolvable dilemma?

Stung by the SIT report which concluded that Ishrat was executed in cold blood, former Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai—hard-pressed to defend his affidavit to the Supreme Court that Ishrat was a Lashkar operative—has stooped to now slandering the girl’s personal life suggesting that her checking into different hotels with “another man” was definitely suspicious

A symbolic trial conducted by a Malaysian tribunal has found former US President George W Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair guilty of committing crimes against humanity during the Iraq war

The corporate media is anointing a false leader of the Occupy Movement in Van Jones of Rebuild the Dream. The former Obama administration official is doing what Democrats always do—see the energy of an independent movement, race to the front, then lead it down a dead end and essentially destroy it

the walls of the neoliberal prison are cracking…We are no longer isolated, enclosed in our alienation, imprisoned by a concretized sense of powerlessness; daylight is beginning to pierce the darkness of our desolate cells

Kazakhstan produces 33 percent of world's mined uranium, followed by Canada at 18 percent and Australia, with 11 percent of global output. Kazakhstan contains the world's second-largest uranium reserves, estimated at 1.5 million tons. Until two years ago Kazakhstan was the world's No. 3 uranium miner, following Australia and Canada

So solar powered cars fall solidly on the reality side of the reality-fantasy continuum. That said, pure solar transport (on board generation) will suffer serious limitations. More reliable transport comes with nuances that may be irritating to the purist. You can apply a bumper sticker that says SOLAR POWERED CAR, but in most cases, you will need to put an asterisk at the end with a lengthy footnote to explain exactly how you have realized that goal

In recent years, we have heard statements indicating that it is possible to decouple GDP growth from energy growth. I have been looking at the relationship between world GDP and world energy use and am becoming increasingly skeptical that such a decoupling is really possible

If we are to avoid runaway climate change, - we need a combination of stringent prohibitions on the most destructive forms of extraction, and global policies to limit energy use. Why not buttress the demand for a ban on all drilling for tar sands oil and shale gas? Why not add the demand for a global and equitable regime of energy rationing?

If Rep. Lewis helped end the immorality of segregation in the United States, then half a century later he can also contribute to ending discrimination in Israel/Palestine by stopping U.S. weapons transfers that sustain Israeli apartheid toward Palestinians

Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia stated that the Indian universities must have an international flavour, adding that "this would not happen unless the government removes the restriction on employment of international faculty". Do we really need them?

A bench of Justices Dalip Singh and Sajjan Singh Kothari in High Court of Rajasthan has stated that the marriages based on right to choose or generally known as love marriages are examples of “lust and greed”! The remark was one of few abhorrent statements made by the Bench on 21nd October 2011 during their ruling on hearing of a Habeas Corpus petition filed by a 34-year-old man

It is good that Ms Mayawati has given it a serious thought but it is equally important that the issue be debated widely and should not be resolved without a State Reorganisation Commission as the stake holders are not just in Uttar-Pradesh but also in other states

For the first time, paleontologists have pinned down exactly when and how fast the granddaddy of all mass extinctions took place, and their findings leave the finger of blame pointing squarely at a colossal and long-lived injection of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Sound familiar? That ancient carbon dioxide came not from cars and factories, of course, but from massive volcanic eruptions, brush fires, and possibly even the combustion of coal seams ignited by hot lava

As we watch the Egyptian police and military viciously attack democracy activists on the streets of Cairo, using U.S. weapons, it is outrageous that the Obama Administration has failed to issue a strong condemnation of this latest attempt to crush a revolution that has inspired people around the world, including millions of Americans

America Is Not Broke
By Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh. Contributors include Phyllis Bennis, Chuck Collins, John Feffer, Miriam Pemberton, Daphne Wysham

How to pay for the crisis while making the country more equitable, green, and secure

Smaller nations may find that this period of global financial turmoil presents an opening to seize greater self-determination and economic self-sufficiency. This would be advisable from several standpoints

A year ago, no one imagined an Arab Spring, and no one imagined this American Fall -- even the people who began planning for it this summer. We don’t know what’s coming next, and that’s the good news. My advice is just of the most general sort: Dream big. Occupy your hopes. Talk to strangers. Live in public. Don’t stop now

Non-violent protest can lead to very violent counter-actions. If that happens to the Occupy movement, it will be seen around the world, and the world, once again, will see that what the U.S. claims about freedom and human rights is simply rhetorical fodder to cover up their real interests in power and control of people and resources

The Occupy movement in the US offers the possibility of being seen, eventually, as the seed of a successful Second American Revolution, which I and many others believe is desperately needed to fix our corrupt, dysfunctional and unfair government, political and economic system

Given the widespread poverty coupled with lack of adequate investments in physical and social infrastructure, New Delhi should innovatively use a portion of the country's forex reserves to meet these development challenges, rather than financing the acquisition of projects and companies linked to natural resources or strategic assets abroad

The US-backed military junta in Egypt carried out a violent crackdown on protesters over the weekend, killing several and injuring over 700. The repression was in advance of the November 28 parliamentary elections

The most widely distributed video of the incident begins just moments before Lt. Pike begain spraying, but another video, which starts a few minutes earlier, shows Pike chatting amiably with one activist, even patting him casually on the back. The pat on the back occurs just two minutes and nineteen seconds before Pike pepper sprayed the student he had just been chatting with and all of his friends

Occupy Wall Street has already won its first victory its own way -- in Ohio, when voters repealed Republican governor John Kasich's law to slash bargaining rights for 350,000 public workers and gut what remained of organized labor's political power

Spread the word, our numbers are our strength. Tell others to join us! Stand proud. Have no fear. Stay the course. Because if we keep pounding them hard like we did at Oakland's port, and if we keep dissolving our bank accounts -- we can level the playing field for our salvation. Failure is not an option for those who cherish freedom

Resilience has strong connections with positive psychology and behavioural modification. In this respect resilience is being offered as an alternative to resistance . Resilience places the responsibility for a sick world onto the individual. Once resilient behaviour is learned it is not always easy to ‘bounce back'. Does this mean we must accept poverty, exploitation, violence, slavery, war and the rest?

Funny that these warmongers and morally bankrupt politicians talk about American exceptionalism! Is water-boarding a symbol of American exceptionalism and is it going to raise our moral standing in the world? Is it a value that we can all cherish and export?

On November 14, Pakistan and Turkmenistan signed an agreement to build the $7.6 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project under which Pakistan will get 1.3 billion cubic feet per day of gas. The agreement was signed during a visit by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan to Islamabad

"Torture in India 2011" states that a total of 14,231 persons i.e. more than four persons per day died in police and judicial custody in India from 2001 to 2010. This includes 1,504 deaths in police custody and 12,727 deaths in judicial custody from 2001-2002 to 2009-2010 as per the cases submitted to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)

The new report, therefore, leaves us where we’ve been since 2002, when George Bush declared Iran to be a member of the Axis of Evil—with lots of belligerent talk but no definitive evidence of a nuclear-weapons program

Ecology economics is different from neo-classical economics because the economic system becomes embedded within an environmental system. Ecological economists argue that neo-classical economics has ignored the environment and this has contributed to environmental degradation, pollution and climate change. Ecology economics preferences natural capital over labour capital, but it does not eliminate the capitalist paradigm; it simply makes the worker invisible. The invisible body has been the Objectivists dream

They should insist on leadership from the marginalized, even if their quality, education and language skills are not “up to the mark” (as defined by the upper caste). They should insist on nurturing and supporting leadership and capacity building of those who need this support the most. They should insist on representation by a dalit on their project management committees

Given the violent and repressive history of Hindutva politics, its necessary that those at the receiving end of the violence come together and ensure safe passage for the Bill. While our lands have seen much more bloodshed than desirable in the name of identity, it is a historic truth that our diverse peoples have spent far more time time living together in peace. A tradition worth fighting for

The Lokpal should cover the highest office in governments and also the judiciary of India, such that the institution can deliver its duty and responsibility to meet the expectation of huge populace of the country, argues Prasant Bhusan, an eminent lawyer in Supreme Court of India

An estimated 400 people were arrested, the majority of them in New York, as protesters took to the streets in cities across the US to show their solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement and the fight against social inequality

We celebrated Occupy Wall Street’s (OWS) second monthly anniversary in small town Sebastopol, with its less than 8000 residents, in Northern California on November 17. We packed a City Council meeting where over two-dozen people spoke in favor of Occupy Sebastopol (OS) and the five-member Council supported it

An increase in heat waves is almost certain, while heavier rainfall, more floods, stronger cyclones, landslides and more intense droughts are likely across the globe this century as the Earth's climate warms, U.N. scientists said on Friday

Energy is arguably the most decisive factor in both ecosystems and human economies. It is the fulcrum of history, the enabler of all that we do. Yet few people have more than the sketchiest understanding of how energy makes the world go ’round

The existence of extremely draconian acts like the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act , National Security Act, and various provisions in the penal code like ‘sedition' make a mockery of the claims of liberal democratic character of the Indian state

Occupy protests on Thursday were met by a heavy police response nationwide. More than three hundred people were arrested, most of them in New York City, where protesters marked two months since the beginning of the occupation of Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan

The Occupy Movement will not and cannot prevent that collapse, but it can put new structures of education in place which can be implemented when it becomes indisputable that the educational system is incapable of functioning

Regardless of whether Netanyahu and Barak are already set on launching an assault, the media hype and the portrayal of Iran as constituting an existential threat to Israel surely help to produce the necessary conditions for a military campaign

The purpose of this essay is to Apologize to the Arabic people for the internationally publicized & sensationalized Assassinations, Executions & Murder of several Arabic: heads of state, political leaders, military commanders or "terrorists" here in the early 21 st Century

There are crises and there will always be crises and this economic blockade will settle into place, alongside massive under development, rampant corruption, drug use, ethnic divides, frequent strikes and social upheaval

As cities throughout the United States step up the police crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street movement, evidence has emerged of a conspiracy between city officials—possibly coordinated with federal intelligence agencies—to shut down the occupy encampments on the basis trumped-up charges of sanitation and public safety

The resignations of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s deputy, Sharon Cornu, and the mayor’s legal adviser and longtime friend, Dan Siegel, in protest over the clearing of the Oakland encampment are some of the first cracks in the edifice. “Support Occupy Oakland, not the 1% and its government facilitators,” Siegel tweeted after his resignation

Mayor Bloomberg, like all the rich man’s mayors in all the U.S. cities that are determined to end their local Occupations, pays his hypocritical respects to democracy and reason, when in fact his authority is nothing but an extension of the rule of capital

For those in it and those trying to understand it from the outside, the Occupy movement has never been easy to predict. As it enters this next phase, I’d bet we should be prepared to be surprised again

To address an active assembled public meeting, to formulate ideas, programs and propose programs and strategies through political action defines the role of the public intellectual. To sit at a desk in an office, in splendid isolation, sending out five manifestos per minute defines a “desktop militant”. It is a form pseudo-militancy that isolates the word from the deed. Desktop “militancy” is an act of verbal inaction, of inconsequential “activism”, a make-believe revolution of the mind

Despite pretentiously showing gestures of friendship and cordiality, the ideological gap between the U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is getting wider increasingly

In a predawn raid Tuesday, hundreds of riot-equipped police descended on Zuccotti Park in Manhattan, the birthplace of the Occupy Wall Street movement, forcibly expelling protesters and tearing down their tents. At least 142 demonstrators in the park were arrested, along with another 50 outside

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan let slip in an interview with the BBC that she had been on a conference call with the mayors of 18 cities about how to deal with the Occupy Wall Street movement. That is, municipal authorities appear to have been conspiring to deprive Americans of their first amendment rights to freedom of assembly and freedom to petition the government for redress of grievances

We are the ones we have been waiting for. No knight in shining armor is coming from either corporate party to save us. We must save ourselves. This is our destiny and just simple common sense. George Carlin said that there is a reason that they call it the “American Dream”… you have to be asleep to believe it

It seems that we are under the impression that Mother Nature will award us points for effort. But the truth is, this lady is not for turning. She is one 'hard-ass', a referee that cannot be swayed by our histrionics or our pleading. We have got to understand that she has her own schedule, and will not hold up the train for us

If diaspora Palestinians do not now make the effort and put their act together, I think it’s possible, even probable, that future Palestinian historians will conclude that they betrayed their occupied and oppressed brothers and sisters as much as the regimes of an impotent, corrupt and repressive Arab Order did

Not yet 30, Evan Knappenberger has already lived several lives. His story destroys the U.S. government's case against whistleblower Bradley Manning, exposes the toxic mix of fraud and incompetence that creates U.S. war policies, and highlights the damage so often done to soldiers who come home without visible injuries

Hundreds of armed police officers in riot gear descended on Oscar Grant Plaza in Oakland, California at approximately 5:00 am Monday morning to evict dozens of peaceful protesters. The show of force was consistent with similar crackdowns on Occupy Wall Street encampments nationwide, including last week in nearby Berkeley

A heavy police presence has ringed Zuccotti Park from the get-go, and whose ranks have now staged a military style raid upon it, a defacto search and destroy mission--because the ruling elite want to suppress the very impulse of freedom

It's time to figuratively "sew seeds into the hems of our dresses." Time to gather up the attributes of what is precious about life, to capture that vast diversity, and carry it with you as we journey to new frontiers -- as our society moves into a new era

“Mic Check” is one of the many wholesome developments of the Occupy Movement. A single speaker's words are echoed by a spontaneous “chorus” of listeners. The benefits are twofold: the original words are repeated, magnified and enhanced by the additional listeners-speakers; and the words are imprinted on the minds and hearts of those who speak and hear

Wellbeing should be counted in net terms — that is to say we should consider not only the accumulated stock of wealth but also that of “illth;” and not only the annual flow of goods but also that of “bads.”

Conventional wisdom has it that the next election will be fought exclusively on the topic of jobs. But President Obama’s announcement last week that he would postpone a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline until after the 2012 election, which may effectively kill the project, makes it clear that other issues will weigh in -- and that, oddly enough, one of them might even be climate change

This attempt to shout down Tamil women by attacking their sexuality first and foremost, needs to be thwarted. There were many instances of this during the global protests against Sri Lanka in 2009, especially over the internet. Women with a higher public profile face even more brutal attacks

For those who were there, November 13th will be a day long remembered in Portland, Oregon. Occupy Portland again proved why it remains the 2nd strongest Occupy movement in the U.S. when it mobilized against police eviction. Instead of the Occupiers being evicted it was the police who were sent home demoralized

How can we save the humanity and this earth from the greed and consumerism and ensure a balanced, sustainable and eco-friendly economic growth. This thought hounded me and resulted in the development of a new concept, ‘Recycling Earth'

Given its disinclination to interfere in the workings of America's neoliberal capitalist economy, even to protect all life on Earth — Washington's continuing unipolar leadership is guiding the world toward irreversible climate change

Egalitarianism does not suffice to save us. If there is enough to go around now, there soon won't be. We can and should "tax the rich", reform the currency, dump the banking system, ration oil and all those good things. But it won't be enough. Not by a long shot. We have already passed several tipping points, with climate change, as lethal and real as it is, in my view, the least consequential of all of them. Our ship has already hit the iceberg. It's called "Peak Everything"

Having some kind of realistic picture of an emergent economy on an energy downslope, of the cusp of a crisis is really important. We have the bad habit of imagining large chunks of the economy out of existence to suit our own needs – but we are best informed by as clear a picture as possible

In the past one month more than a hundred farmers have committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh, Vidharba and Kerala. All these farmers took the fatal route to escape the humiliation that comes along with mounting indebtedness. According to the National Crime Records Bureau 15,964 farmers committed suicide in 2010 alone. Put together, more than 250,000 farmers have taken their own lives during the past 15 years

Although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh considers rising food inflation to be a sign of growing prosperity, the reality is very harsh and painful. Rising food inflation, which continues for the 4th successive year now, has hit the aam aadmi like never before. Adding fuel to fire is the frequent raise in petrol prices

A must read for all kinds of activists, human rights and social justice campaigners, students of social sciences, especially those of sociology and political sciences. Those working on Communalism, Terrorism and Caste issues can hardly afford to miss these

The world is locking itself into an unsustainable energy future which would have far-reaching consequences, warns the International Energy Association (IEA) in its latest World Energy Outlook report released in London

The powers that be are already scared of the Occupy movement and not because of tiny acts of violence. They are scared because right now we speak pretty well for the 99%. And because we set out to change the world and it’s working

Like all human endeavors, Occupy Wall Street and its thousands of variations and spin-offs will be imperfect. There have already been setbacks and divisions, hardships and injury. But as our world faces extraordinary challenges—from climate change to soaring inequality—our best hope is the ordinary people, gathered in imperfect democracies, who are finding ways to fix a broken world

The “new Libya” has entered its own “Terror” which is spreading inexorably, aided by NATO member states including American, French and British SAS units known locally as “disappearance squads”. This is one of the rapidly developing consequences of the UN’s rush to “protect Libya’s civilian population” last spring

It's crystal clear that Israel is not in a position to threaten Iran against a military strike over its nuclear program. Israel even does not have the credibility of asking Iran to halt its nuclear program while it possesses 300 atomic warheads

Now that Shalit is free, Israel is clearly uninterested in ending its ‘collective punishment’ of Gaza. The latest act of piracy is the latest indication that the blockade will remain in place, under an array of pretexts and justifications

This singularity should provide impetus for the World to recognize the continuing, genocidal carnage in the post-1990 US Alliance War on Muslims that has so far been associated with about 12 million war-related deaths, a Muslim Holocaust and a Muslim Genocide that is resolutely ignored by the Mainstream media, academics and politicians of the Western Murdochracies

On November 11, the President delayed permitting of the Keystone XL pipeline, sending the issue back to the State Department for a thorough re-review. Many analysts say this victory for life on Earth will effectively kill the Keystone XL project. Good news has become so rare that Obama's decision today is a glaring, majestic affirmation of hope greater than at first it might seem

A suitable rehabilitation program, scholarship, assistance to rebuild the life has to be the responsibility of the state in these matters. State must come forward to undo the severe harm it has inflicted on these innocent youth

The crisis of sub-altern politics and their politicians (Laloo, Mulayam, Mayawati, Karunanidhi, Sharad Yadav, Nitish etc) lies is this dichotomy of social politics and party politics. The party politicians have simply refused to acknowledge that political energy is generated by social movements by tapping which they can sustain their politics on a long term basis that will benefit both, the people and the politics

IEA's World Energy Outlook 2011 confirms the end of cheap oil. In its executive summary, under the sub-heading "Rising transport demand and upstream costs reconfirm the end of cheap oil", the report says "We assume that the average IEA crude oil import price remains high, approaching $120/barrel (in year-2010 dollars) in 2035 (over $210/barrel in nominal terms) in the New Policies Scenario although, in practice, price volatility is likely to remain"

The most serious crisis is the one we talk the least about—this is global warming and climate change. The climate crisis will have the deepest effects on civilisation itself and will make our financial worries look trivial in comparison

The shock waves from the collapse of the G20 meeting last week are starting to spread through the global financial system as the implications of the failure to develop a rescue package for the eurozone become clear

The collapse of the current financial system of central banks, pathological Wall Street and insolvent banks would be the greatest possible good and the greatest possible positive for the global economy and its participants

This spring of human depression and desperation has given way to a fall harvest of hope and expectation as the citizens of the world unite to cast aside those who have commandeered their rights to a government of the people, by the people and for the people

November 18-20, 2011: Thousands of social justice activists from across the Americas will occupy the main gates of Fort Benning, Georgia to call for an end to U.S. militarization and for the closure of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly the School of Americas

Of the 55-million families with mortgages, 10.4-million of them “are sliding toward failure and foreclosure”---a tragedy that will depress the U.S. housing market for years to come, a result of too many houses for sale and too few buyers

AFSPA is a xenophobic law because it is selectively imposed upon seven North East Indian states - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura and extended to Jammu and Kashmir, but does not apply to the rest of the country

Over the past week, evidence has been mounting of an intense debate in Israeli ruling circles over the launching of air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the not too distant future. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barack have reportedly been campaigning inside the cabinet and seeking to overcome resistance within sections of the country’s military and intelligence establishment to a war with Iran

Chris Hedges wrote this article after he was released from custody following his arrest last Thursday. He and about 15 other participants in the Occupy Wall Street movement were detained as they protested outside the global headquarters of Goldman Sachs in lower Manhattan

The Occupy movement should also reach out to organized labor, which has already been raising the key demands around creating jobs and opposing cuts. Uniting the 99% in concrete struggle is the issue of the day, but time is short. The Occupy Movement has the nation's attention now, but working people's attention is conditional; they will stay focused on Occupy if Occupy is focused on them

This is a reconstruction from notes of a talk delivered at a teach-in on "The Capitalist Crisis and the Environment" organized by the Education and Empowerment Working Group, Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park (Liberty Plaza), New York, October 23, 2011

In my opinion, when people opine that the OWS movement is about--or should be about--the airing of this particular grievance or that it must bandy this or that particular demand--they have missed the point. Of course, collectively, OWS evinces a force of resistance against corporate greed and a critique of the failings of the present political system…Yet, as is the case with any living thing, to reduce its essential nature to facile descriptions diminishes it

The US two-party plutocracy has allowed the rich and powerful to buy the political system. Except for the rich, the results are dreadful. This is why 89 percent do not trust that government will do the right thing. The best solution is what you find at the getmoneyout.com website, a constitutional amendment to get money out of politics

News reports say that the Orissa government is once again planning an assault on the proposed POSCO project area. Apparently at least 14 platoons of police will attempt to attack the coastal side of the villages. This comes after the people of Dhinkia and Gobindpur heroically resisted police attacks for more than two months in the heat of summer, drawing the attention of the entire country

Over the years, forestry has become a critical part of the climate change agenda. Therefore ICIMOD's role – ‘to enable and facilitate the equitable and sustainable well-being of the people of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas, by supporting sustainable mountain development through active regional cooperation' is crucial and should be supported by all governments in this region

The real task in front of OWS in NYC is to construct a fair, truthful, honest compromise between General Assembly and Spokes Council in order to increase the efficiency of the OWS movement in the context of its direct democracy

A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, I hope we have made that step on September 17, 2011 a few blocks from Wall Street in Liberty Square. But even if we haven't and Engels was at heart an utopian and his vision of the future a dream, still a dream, if that is all it is, can, as Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us, inspire people to fight for a better world

Sahel is providing protection, weapons gathering and storage facilities, sites for training camps, and hideouts as well as a generally formidable base for those working to organize the growing Libyan Liberation Front (LLF). The aim of the LLF is to liberate Libya from what it considers NATO installed colonial puppets

The G20 summit in Cannes has concluded in disarray and without details in “agreements”. Leaders were unable to agree upon financing the IMF to help advanced capitalist countries in distress. No G20 state is willing to participate in the euro zone bailout fund

All the evidence suggests that the real goal of these members of Team Anna is regime change, and that, too, not in the weak sense of a change of government, but in the much stronger sense of constitutional change

A one-day protest in Oakland, California on Wednesday that involved more than ten thousand people was followed by police action in the early morning hours of Thursday, including the use of tear gas and rubber bullets, followed by dozens of arrests

The miraculous and magical rise of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) tidal wave has suspended us in a threshold between a no-longer and a not-yet. The call for justice initiated by American youth echoes around the globe. Ours is a time of transition; exploring similar transitional moments in history could be instructive

The world pumped about 564m more tons (512m metric tons) of carbon into the air in 2010 than it did in 2009, an increase of 6%. That amount of extra pollution eclipses the individual emissions of all but three countries, China, the US and India, the world's top producers of greenhouse gases

While Armenian American celebrity Kim Kardashian has demanded recognition of the 1.5 million-victim Armenian Genocide, arguing that genocide ignored will yield more genocide, even the most progressive of Australia 's major newspapers evidently does not want its readers to read, know or think about this

An historical move was made when on October 2nd in the meeting of Federal Cabinet of Pakistan, it was decided that “India is the Most Favored Nation (MNF) of Pakistan for Trade”. The decision has come at a time when terrorism in the region has strengthened its hold and the religious fundamentalists love to hate India

Irom Sharmila has been on hunger strike since November 2, 2000 demanding that the Indian government repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 (AFSPA). She has refused food and water for more than 500 weeks, making her the longest hunger striker in the world

There are different interpretations of the prevalent Valmiki Ramayana, many of which are not to the liking of those who are indulging in politics in the name of their faith. Surprisingly all this intolerance is shown by those who assert that Hinduism is tolerant and other religions are intolerant

There is a reasonable option for people on the left other than siding with the players: we can stop paying attention to the lockout altogether. It will save us all a lot of time and mental energy debating the virtues of solidarity with a labor struggle in which the 99%—not counting those who depend on income from concessions jobs in NBA arenas—has little, if any, material stake

Amid growing tensions in the Middle East, including speculation about a possible Israeli attack on Iran, a key U.S. Congressional committee Wednesday approved two bills that would impose sweeping new economic and diplomatic sanctions against Tehran

Assange rightly fears that, once in Sweden, Washington will move for his extradition to the US. A secret grand jury has reportedly been convened in Alexandria, Virginia, to this end. Once in the US, Assange could be charged under the Espionage Act and face a possible death sentence

Thousands of protesters participated in a day of marches and demonstrations in Oakland, California Wednesday. The actions were held eight days after a violent attack by police on the Occupy Oakland movement resulted in more than 100 arrests and the near-fatal wounding of a young Iraq War veteran, Scott Olsen

If the Keystone XL pipeline is built, it surely smooths the way for further expansions of the market for oil sands crude. Turning down XL, in contrast, draws a line in the oil sands, and affirms the principle that this carbon shall not pass into the atmosphere

After UNESCO voted to give the Palestinians full membership, the words of State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland contained a hint that the Obama administration at the highest levels is quite seriously concerned about the possible consequences for America of cutting off funds to the UN agency as required by Zionist lobby driven law enacted by Congress

And sooner or later those who love war both overseas and here at home will crumble under the weight of a great people who decide to throw away the chains of fear, and hate, and war – and decide that a society of liberty and peace is far better – and easily achieved

Following Tunisia’s first fair and free elections on October 27, the Western media responded with a characteristic sense of fear and alarm. For many, it seemed that the ghost of the Islamic menace was back to haunt ‘Western values’ throughout the Arab world

Oakland prepared Wednesday to again become the epicenter of Occupy Wall Street movement as local organizers aided by labor unions and advocacy groups finalized plans for a broad-based call to action that was expected to include marches, pickets outside banks, school shutdowns and an attempt to close the nation's fifth-busiest port

In a figurative sense, the state has turned against its own people. Not that it hasn’t happened before, but there is a uniqueness about the combination of elements in the OWS movement that speaks for its latent power

The regime of President Bashar al-Assad stands as the Yugoslavia of the Middle East, that has to join the expansion southward of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as well as the “new world order” engineered by the U.S. unipolar power, kicked out as the odd regional number, or join Iraq and Libya in being bombed down to the medieval ages

The International Labour Organization, an agency of the United Nations, released a report Monday pointing to a disastrous global jobs situation and a “vicious cycle” sending the world economy into a new downturn. “The next few months will be crucial for avoiding a dramatic downturn in employment and a further significant aggravation of social unrest,” warns the opening editorial to the World of Work report, released ahead of a G20 meeting later this week

In Portland, Oregon, all the promise and pitfalls of the Occupy Movement are on public display.The vast amounts of public support in Portland, earned through large demonstrations and strategic outreach, can be frittered away by the internal contradictions of the movement

As the name suggests, the stroke or acute brain disorder occurs all of a sudden irrespective of the age and gender of an individual. The most horrible statistics are that one in six persons in the world will face the stroke in their lifetime. More to it, one person dies from stroke in every six seconds in the globe

We have gone much beyond the seven billionth figure and if a girl has survived in some backward village, her fate is sealed – sold and delivered. It could be to a client or it could be one husband too many

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